Man dies after 'brief altercation' with Anaheim police

Anaheim police are investigating the in-custody death of a 46-year-old man who had a “brief altercation” with officers after disrupting traffic on a busy street, authorities said.

Police received a call about 5:35 p.m. Saturday of a man “acting bizarrely” and running in and out of traffic in the 1000 block of West Lincoln Avenue, police said in a statement.

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At least one caller said it looked like the man was trying to get vehicles to hit him. Police responded and found the man, believed to be a transient, in a parking lot “acting erratically,” according to the statement. Officers tried to handcuff him but he resisted, police said.

The officers rolled the man onto his stomach to try to handcuff him and noticed that he was in medical distress, police said, and was administered Narcan, a medicine used to treat overdoses of opioids, and given CPR.

Paramedics responded and took the man to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. It’s unclear whether the man was having an opioid overdose, police said. Toxicology tests will take 10 to 12 weeks.

The man's identity has been withheld pending notification of next of kin, said Sgt. Daron Wyatt, a spokesman for the Anaheim Police Department.

Officers were wearing body cameras, which captured the incident. Police said that officers did not use a Taser, a baton or “strikes” during the encounter.

The incident is under investigation by Anaheim police and the Orange County district attorney’s office.